T-3 Hex
Also written T3 Hex · a T-3 game on zen2play
Join your sides. Block theirs.
The classic connection game Hex, played with the T-3 pieces. The Purple Soldiers join the top and the bottom; the Green T3rminators join the left and the right. Place one piece a turn - pieces never move and are never taken. The first unbroken chain wins.
Free to play. No luck and no draws: a full board always has exactly one winner. Play people, or Zen Calm and Zen Master.
A real 8 × 8 game Zen played: Soldiers reaching down, T3rminators cutting across.
How it plays
A rhombus of hexagons. Two cells are joined when their hexagons share a side.
Place
The Soldiers move first. On your turn tap any empty cell to see your piece there, then tap it again to place it. That is your whole turn.
There is no pass, no undo and no capture: every piece stays to the end.
Connect
Your sides are marked on the board's edge in your colour. Build a chain of your pieces, side to side to side, from one of your edges to the other. It may bend any way it likes.
Corners do not count
Cells that only touch at a corner are not joined. This diagonal of Soldiers looks close, but it connects nothing.
The swap: why the first move is not free
Moving first is a real advantage in Hex, so the T3rminators get one choice the Soldiers never have.
After the swap: the Soldiers' opening on c2 became a T3rminator on b3, and play went on.
Straight after the Soldiers' first piece, and only then, the T3rminators may Swap instead of placing.
The Soldier leaves and a T3rminator stands on the mirrored cell - column and row exchanged, so c2 becomes b3.
Nobody changes sides. The Soldiers simply move again.
Soldiers: open with a move that is neither too strong (it would be swapped) nor too weak. Near an edge or a corner is the usual choice.
T3rminators: swap a strong central opening; leave a weak one and play your own move.
Bridges: the move that cannot be cut
Two of your pieces with two empty cells between them are a bridge. If your opponent takes one of the two cells, you take the other - and your pieces are joined anyway.
A real Zen game: the ringed cells are the two pairs that keep two bridges safe.
Reach with bridges. A bridge covers two rows in one move and still cannot be cut. A line of bridges across the board is almost a win.
Answer an intrusion at once. When your opponent steps into a bridge, take the other cell before anything else.
Block from a distance. A piece right in front of an attacker is easy to go round; one a little further ahead is not.
Every block is an attack. Your chain and theirs cross the same board: the cell that stops them often joins you.
Three boards, your choice of opponent
Pick a board in the Board size card beside the game.
4 × 4
Sixteen cells, learn the game in minutes against Zen. Zen Master plays it perfectly whenever a win exists.
6 × 6
Thirty-six cells: a full game in a few minutes. Play a person (10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes each) or Zen.
8 × 8
Sixty-four cells for deep games: 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes each, against a person or Zen.
People or Zen
In the Opponent card choose Player to be paired with a person, or play Zen Calm or Zen Master now.
Your side
Against Zen choose the Soldiers (they move first) or the T3rminators (you decide the swap). Against a player the sides are drawn at random.
Rating
6 × 6 and 8 × 8 each have their own rating: +6 a win, −3 a loss. Games against Zen are never rated.
Rules at a glance
Can a game be drawn?
Never. When the board is full exactly one side has joined its edges.
Can I pass?
No. Every turn places a piece (or, once, the T3rminators' swap).
Do the corners count?
Each corner cell belongs to both of its edges: a chain may start or end there.
How long is a move?
60 seconds. Each player's first move within 60 seconds, or the game is aborted, unrated.
How is a move written?
By its cell, column letter then row number: c3. The swap is written swap. a1 is the top-left corner.
How does a game end?
The moment a chain joins its two edges. Resigning or running out of time also ends it.
No dice. No luck. Just the better plan.
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